Median survival times were 15 months for Asians, 10 months for whites and Hispanics, and eight months for blacks, the investigators found.

After they adjusted for the type of treatment received, the researchers concluded that black patients had a 12 percent higher death rate than white patients; Hispanic and white patients had similar rates of death, and Asian patients had a 16 percent lower death rate.

The study appears in the December issue of the journal Archives of Surgery.

"The most notable finding in our study was that racial/ethnic variation in hepatocellular carcinoma [liver cancer] outcome is related to access and variable treatment effect from specific therapies," the researchers wrote in a university news release.

"After adjusting for treatment effects, the racial/ethnic disparity in survival between black and white patients decreased but persisted," they continued. "This finding is linked to two major issues that contribute to health-related disparities in minority populations: black patients have poor access to treatment, and, even after obtaining treatment, they have relatively poor outcomes compared with white patients."